1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to an induction concentration remote (ICR) atmospheric pressure plasma generating apparatus, and more particularly, to an induction concentration remote atmospheric pressure plasma generating apparatus in which high voltage is applied to hot electrodes and in particular induction electrodes are used, so that a plasma can be generated in a plasma cell including several metal discharge electrodes by using one power supply device while not generating arc between metal electrodes, and large area samples can be processed efficiently by generating a high-density plasma.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, a low-pressure plasma can be easily generated, but requires expensive apparatuses for maintaining a low-pressure state, such as a vacuum chamber and an exhaust device. Further, the low-pressure plasma has a limit to mass-production processing due to the product input method of a batch type. In contrast, the atmospheric pressure plasma can be generated in the state of an atmospheric pressure (760 Torr), and thus does not require an expensive vacuum system. Further, the atmospheric pressure plasma is advantageous in that it enables a consecutive process and mass production.
The most widely used method as a method of generating a plasma while prohibiting arc discharge at an atmospheric pressure is a dielectric material barrier type (T, Yokoyama, M. Kogoma, T. Moriwaki, and S. Okazaki, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. V23, p 1125 (1990)), (John R. Roth, Peter P. Tsai, Chaoyu Lin, Mouuir Laroussi, Paul D. Spence, “Steady-state, Glow discharge plasma”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,842 (Feb. 7, 1995), “One Atmosphere, Uniform Glow discharge plasma”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,324 (May 9, 1995)).
A general AC barrier type is a method in which a ceramic dielectric material for prohibiting arc discharge, such as alumina, is coated on both sides or one side of upper and lower electrodes disposed with an adequate gap therebetween, and high AC pulse voltage is applied to generate an atmospheric pressure plasma.
A remote plasma type using dielectric material barriers is a low-temperature plasma shower type enabling a large area. However, the remote plasma type (Y. Sawada, K. Nakamura, H. Kitamura, Y. Inoue, “Plasma treatment apparatus and plasma treatment method performed by use of the same apparatus”, U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,091 (Jul. 23, 2002)) has a structure in which it can be inevitably used limitedly since the plasma density is low due to the control of the dielectric material, and has lots of energy loss and generation of great heat due to a dielectric material discharge, requiring cooling. Thus, the remote plasma type is difficult for maintenance.